It is the first time the tournament will have been held across Europe, and it is being done in order to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the European Championship.

FA general secretary Alex Horne said: 'We are bidding for either of the two packages available and with our recent experience of hosting two UEFA Champions League finals in the last four years we believe that Wembley Stadium and London represent a strong bid for UEFA to consider to mark the tournament’s 60th anniversary.

'We recognise UEFA is considering many strong bids from a number of candidate cities and we welcome the opportunity to put forward our bid.'

Commenting on the bidding process, UEFA President Michel Platini said:

'We are extremely happy to have received so many bids to host UEFA EURO 2020. The 60th year anniversary edition of the tournament will be an historic one, with matches played in many European countries.

North of the border: Scotland have applied to hold group games in 2020

'By spreading the EURO across our
continent, we will allow more fans from more nations to share in the
excitement of hosting such a magical event.

Member associations will
also benefit greatly from this format, since more of them will be
exposed to an elite tournament and have the opportunity to increase the
development of football in their respective countries.

'I wish all the candidates the best of luck in this bidding process.'

There had been a question mark over the Welsh bid as cities needed to nominate two airports to service rival sets of fans, but the FAW has signed agreements which would use both Cardiff and Bristol airports.

'We believe that we have a strong and compelling proposition,' FAW chief executive Jonathan Ford said.

Enter the Dragon: An aerial view of the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff

Ireland are putting forward Dublin to host group matches while the Scottish FA’s bid centres on Hampden.

SFA chief executive Stewart Regan said the toughest competition could come from close to home.

He said: 'It’s highly unlikely that there will be four winning bids from the United Kingdom and Ireland.

'So our job is to try to convince UEFA that Glasgow is one of the preferred options for that zone, if you like.'

UEFA has asked all bidding cities to provide detailed files including information on stadiums, transport, hotels, airports, fan zones and government guarantees.

A number of the 32 countries who initially registered an interest have dropped out of the running, including Portugal, Poland and the Czech Republic.